Chambers v. State
| Decision Date | 18 February 1982 |
| Docket Number | No. 14-81-219-CR,14-81-219-CR |
| Citation | 630 S.W.2d 413 |
| Parties | Ralph CHAMBERS, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee. (14th Dist.) |
| Court | Texas Court of Appeals |
Will Gray, Simonton, for appellant.
John B. Holmes, Jr., Dist. Atty., Houston, for appellee.
Before MILLER, MORSE and JAMES, JJ.
This is an appeal from a conviction of burglary of a building, with intent to commit theft. On trial to a jury, appellant was found guilty and sentenced by the trial court to ten years confinement at the Texas Department of Corrections. Having found no error, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.
On July 11, 1978, Arnulfo ("Al") Heath was on trial for delivery of cocaine and was represented by the appellant, Ralph Chambers. The trial took place in the 176th District Court of Harris County, Texas, and was presided over by Judge William Hatten. During the Heath trial, 12 small bags and 2 larger bags of cocaine were admitted into evidence. At the end of the day, this evidence was placed in a box and put on top of a file cabinet in the court reporter's office.
Heath, the State's key witness and an accomplice as a matter of law, testified that he and Chambers remained in the judge's office for about 15 minutes working on the charge in Heath's case after everybody else had left. This was late afternoon on July 11. When they left the Courthouse, they went across the street to a bar where they had a few drinks. At this time they discussed the cocaine which had been offered into evidence during Heath's trial, and the prospects of getting it back. After Chambers had made several phone calls, Heath and Chambers left the bar at about 9 p. m. and went to the Time Out Club. Chambers called Lannie Phillips, a former investigator with the Harris County District Attorney's office who had keys to various offices in the Courthouse, supposedly including the 176th District Court offices. Phillips arrived approximately 25 minutes later with 8 to 10 keys. Chambers then took his briefcase and the keys that Phillips had brought and left for the Courthouse. He returned in about 20 minutes, threw the keys on the table and said they wouldn't work and that he needed a burglar tool. Next, they went out to Phillips' car and took out a tire tool. Chambers put the tire tool under his shirt and had Heath and Phillips drop him off at the Courthouse and ride around for 15 to 20 minutes while he went in. A short time later, Heath saw Chambers come out of the elevator inside the Courthouse. Chambers was not carrying his briefcase and was "hunched over" holding something. Chambers came straight to the car, sat down and took several packages of cocaine out of his shirt. The three men then went to the Rotary Table for another drink and parked in the back. It was decided that Phillips would take the cocaine, since he knew somebody whom he could trust to keep it. Phillips left in his car and Heath and Chambers remained at the Rotary Table until about 2 a. m. at which time the bar owner's brother gave them a ride home.
Chambers arrived at the Courthouse early the next morning and went through the file cabinets and the desk in the court reporter's office as though he was looking for his brief case. Heath testified that Chambers had informed him the next morning that he had taken "the opportunity to go through the file cabinets and the desk like he was looking for his briefcase so he would leave fingerprints."
According to the testimony of Billy Wuneburger, another witness for the State, Phillips approached him between 9 P.M. and 11 P.M. on the night of July 11, after the burglary, and asked him to hold the cocaine. Wuneburger held the cocaine for several weeks, delivering small amounts to Phillips on several occasions, and returning the remainder of the cocaine to Phillips on August 4th.
State's witness Ronnie Stewart testified that Chambers telephoned him at about 7 p. m. on the night of the burglary. Chambers told Stewart that he knew where they could "make a score" and it consisted of going to the Courthouse and stealing four and a half pounds of cocaine. Stewart told Chambers that he would assist, but Chambers never called him back. Stewart had been sick that evening and at about 1 a. m. the following morning his fever went up to 104 and he checked into a hospital. Four or five days after the burglary, Chambers gave him 6 oz. of cocaine in repayment of a debt. Stewart diluted this cocaine to the point that it was not marketable and therefore, returned it to Chambers in order that it could be mixed with the remainder of the cocaine to increase its strength. The court allowed the jury to determine whether Stewart and Wuneburger were in fact accomplices, as defined in the charge, and if so found, the court instructed the jury as to the requirement of corroboration by other evidence other than the testimony of Heath, Stewart, or Wuneburger.
Heath also testified that he was with Chambers on August 4, when Phillips came in and gave Chambers a small ice chest containing what was weighed as 33 or 34 oz. of cocaine, which was "way short" of what was supposed to be returned. In addition Heath testified that he went with Chambers to a meeting with Ronnie Stewart and Beau Deal at the Los Comales Restaurant on August 16. At the meeting, Stewart was upset and told Chambers that he wanted his 6 oz. of cocaine or his money back. Chambers wrote Wuneburger's address down on a piece of paper later introduced as an exhibit. Heath said "..it was agreed" that he, Stewart and Deal would go to Wuneburger's apartment and talk to him about the cocaine. The three went to the apartment with guns, but didn't find Wuneburger. Later that same day, Stewart was arrested at the Rusty Bucket for carrying a pistol. About a week after Stewart's arrest, Chambers came to Heath's house and brought some cocaine for Heath to either hide or sell, whichever he could do. Heath then gave the cocaine to a lady he trusted who was visiting him from San Antonio. She agreed to keep the package for him and returned to San Antonio the following day. The next day Chambers wanted the cocaine back and Heath told him that he had already given it to somebody in Brownsville. Heath, whose bond had been raised to $100,000 after Stewart had "spilled his guts" to the District Attorney's office, was arrested the following day. A few days after his arrest, Heath agreed to cooperate with the police and a meeting was arranged between Heath and Chambers. When Chambers arrived, they met in a detective's office and discussed the bond situation. During the meeting, Chambers made motions with his hands and whispered for Heath to return the cocaine. According to Heath, Chambers whispered because he knew the office was bugged. Chambers left the office with the understanding that Mrs. Heath would call him when the cocaine was ready to be picked up.
According to the testimony of detective Carpenter of the Houston Police Department, he and Heath flew to San Antonio (the day before Heath's meeting with Chambers) and picked up the cocaine which Heath had given to his friend to hold. They returned to Houston, and the following day, after Heath had met with Chambers, Heath and Detective Carpenter went to Heath's residence and placed the cocaine beside a tree. Mrs. Heath telephoned Chambers and he arrived shortly thereafter. Chambers picked up the package containing the cocaine from under the tree and drove off in his car. A short distance down the road he was apprehended by the Houston Police and arrested. The cocaine in the package was the same (Heath said) which Chambers had earlier delivered to him and that Heath had given to the woman in San Antonio. A forensic chemist for the drug enforcement administration testified that the cocaine recovered from Chambers was chemically similar to the cocaine which was admitted into evidence at the Heath trial.
Appellant comes before this court with two points of error. In his first point he contends that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to corroborate the testimony of the accomplice witnesses.
The State's key witness, Heath, being an accomplice witness as a matter of law, his testimony must be corroborated by other evidence tending to connect the defendant to the offense committed. Tex.Code Crim.Pro.Ann....
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